About Organisation
EIT Food is the world’s largest food innovation community, working to address pressing challenges in the global food system. By fostering collaboration between businesses, academia, policy stakeholders, NGOs, and educational institutions, EIT Food aims to create systemic, impactful solutions that improve the way we produce, distribute, and consume food. The organisation supports innovation through research, entrepreneurship, and workforce development, encouraging cross-sector partnerships and fostering knowledge sharing across Europe. EIT Food’s mission is to build a sustainable and resilient food ecosystem by reducing skills gaps, accelerating innovation adoption, and supporting startups that offer transformative solutions. Through its infrastructure programmes and network of partners, EIT Food helps scale initiatives that promote agricultural transitions, food security, and biotechnology advancements. With a focus on connecting stakeholders from various industries and disciplines, EIT Food enables knowledge exchange and supports strategic initiatives that align with Europe’s sustainability and growth objectives. The organisation works to ensure that food-related innovations reach wider markets, create employment opportunities, and improve food safety and resilience. By leveraging a portfolio of past successes, EIT Food helps to shape a healthier, more equitable, and future-ready food system.
About the Grant
The Collaborative Missions Programmes in Food Innovation grant aims to support partnership-driven initiatives that address major societal challenges within the food sector. The funding focuses on projects that deliver clearly defined mission targets, create a pathway to impact, and build a network of interconnected activities across industry, academia, and social sectors. Priority areas include agricultural transitions, food biotechnology, food security, risk resilience, workforce development, and strategic sectoral issues. The grant encourages applicants to explore innovative ways to reduce skills gaps, support startups, and build platforms that address critical barriers to sustainable food systems. Funded initiatives are expected to create meaningful synergies between various stakeholders, including vocational training institutions, NGOs, businesses, and policymakers. Projects should leverage EIT Food’s infrastructure to scale impact and ensure widespread adoption of solutions. Funding is aimed at projects that bridge the gap between research, innovation, and market readiness by supporting entrepreneurial skill development, open competitions, co-funding programmes, and knowledge exchange clusters. The programme’s goal is to ensure that food innovations are accessible and practical, while aligning with broader efforts to enhance sustainability, resilience, and workforce capacity within Europe’s food ecosystem.
Who can Apply?
Eligible applicants include organisations from European Union Member States and Horizon Europe Associate Countries. Applications must be led by organisations capable of delivering high-impact outcomes across the food sector’s economic, industry, and social value chains. Projects should demonstrate how they will contribute to solving food system challenges, build partnerships, and scale innovations with pan-European impact. Public bodies, research organisations, universities, vocational training institutions, NGOs, private companies, and consortiums are encouraged to apply. Each proposal must show alignment with strategic objectives such as workforce development, innovation scaling, and addressing barriers within food systems. The programme expects applicants to work in collaboration with multiple stakeholders and integrate cross-sector expertise to strengthen food system resilience. Funding requests can cover up to 70% of total programme costs, requiring a minimum of 30% co-funding from the applicant. Grants are available for up to €1,000,000 per year for a maximum duration of two years, with a possibility of a 12-month performance-based extension. Projects must show a commitment to long-term impact measurement, knowledge exchange, and ensuring the broad adoption of innovative solutions across the food sector.
How to Apply?
Applicants must submit their proposals through the official application portal before the deadline. The application includes organisational information, project objectives, partnerships, budget details, and alignment with EIT Food’s strategic goals. A multi-stage evaluation process will assess eligibility, technical merit, and alignment with mission targets. Selected applicants will undergo onboarding and contract finalisation before funding is disbursed in instalments based on milestones and deliverables.
Application Deadline
The deadline for submitting applications for the Collaborative Missions Programmes in Food Innovation is December 11, 2025. All proposals must be submitted through the official portal before this date.
Last Date To Apply
